


Rinse Cycle

by hullosweetpea



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Beta Castiel (Supernatural), Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Trans Beta Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29587719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hullosweetpea/pseuds/hullosweetpea
Summary: Dean's tapping and humming merge as one with the machines. Cas could watch Dean's hands as he sorts and cleans for any number of hours. He’d never caught Dean’s scent in the seven months they’ve worked together. Between Scent-B-Gone, the scent neutralizer sprays on the main floor, and so much soap and cleaner Cas could barely smell himself after a shift.Dean is kind. A bright soul amongst the many.Dean holds up a top sheet and pulls a face. "Does the slick spot look like a dick to you?""I didn’t know slick spots could so accurately portray Ronald Reagan.”Dean throws his head back and his laugh echoes against the cinder block walls.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 12
Kudos: 59
Collections: Profound Bond Gift Exchange: Reunion





	Rinse Cycle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jemariel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jemariel/gifts).



> Happy PBExchange Jem!!!
> 
> This was not the first, nor the second, but my third go at getting a story that fit right. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed getting to write this for you<3

The heavy scent of Alpha rut and Omega heat is familiar in the Mating Washroom. Cas unpacks the new arrival and pulls out a bedding set: duvet, sheets, pillows, throw. And a pair of heat briefs. He sighs and tosses them in the “Undergarments” bin. 

This set isn't bad. A few stains here and there from slick, lube, and the rest that is expected. Spots of blood, most likely from a successful mating bite, dot the sheets and the edges of one of the pillowcases. Cas pulls out an industrial bottle of Scent-B-Gone and turns the tap on cold for the soak sink. He has two hours left until he is done for the day, time enough to soak, scrub, and wash this set. Next shift will make sure they get sent through to the dryers. 

The door squeaks open and Dean pushes his way through—basket in hand and Walkman at his side in his pocket. He rocks his head and drums a heavy beat against the thick, plastic basket handles. "Hey Cas." 

"Hello Dean." Cas tries to see if he can pick up the song from the beat, but it's not anything he recognizes from Dean's cassette collection. "New music?" 

Dean blushes as he separates by color. "Yeah, listening to something new." He starts the tap on the other soak sink. "Thought I'd branch out from knot rock." He snorts. "It's what I grew up on and I've never really looked out at what's beyond there, ya know?" 

Cas nods. He does. It's how he's ended up here in Palo Alto and the laundry mat. Heretical betas and all that. Freedom was a mattress on the floor of an apartment shared with three other betas and an alpha couple. 

Dean's tapping and humming merge as one with the machines. Cas could watch Dean's hands as he sorts and cleans for any number of hours. He’d never caught Dean’s scent in the seven months they’ve worked together. Between Scent-B-Gone, the scent neutralizer sprays on the main floor, and so much soap and cleaner Cas could barely smell himself after a shift. 

Dean is kind. A bright soul amongst the many. 

Dean holds up a top sheet and pulls a face. "Does the slick spot look like a dick to you?"

"I didn’t know slick spots could so accurately portray Ronald Reagan.” 

Dean throws his head back and his laugh echoes against the cinder block walls. 

∴

Heavy rain splashes against the large front windows of the laundromat. Cas is behind the counter flipping through an Alpha Weekly left behind by a patron. Dean’s wedged on the window ledge patching a sweater for Claire, one of the regulars. 

She’s a part of their younger college group—the ones who’ve left the nest and are managing fairly well, but every now and then need an adultier adult. Slap a beard on either of Cas or Dean and they could make out as early forty. It worked well when Cas got Claire and Kaia’s old landlord to break them out of their contract early for sexual harassment. Dean gave Jack, Kevin, and Sam’s landlord the riot act after ignoring one too many of their complaints. 

Droplets of condensation slide down the window. Dean’s head bobs along to Shania Twain on the radio. 

“When you gonna ask him out,” asks Claire as she scoots up on the counter. 

Cas shoves the Alpha Weekly underneath. “Who said I was?” 

Claire raises an eyebrow. “I dunno, what about all the eye-fucking? I swear the only reason Bobby puts you both down on the same shift is because he’s secretly a softie.”

“Bobby is a softie, but that doesn’t mean he’s trying to secretly hook me and Dean up. It just means that he’ll call me or Dean up first if he’s got extra hours. He knows we both could use the money.” 

Claire glares down at him from her perch. Up above she’s like a judgy crow—long, blonde hair; shaved sides; and thick eyeliner. Her faint magnolia scent clashes with the way she presents herself and Cas can imagine her as a young girl—rejecting femininity, and later, her Omega presentation. “Whatever old man. Got a newspaper anywhere? Kaia and I thought about going to the movies tonight.” 

Cas nudges her boots off the counter. “News stand’s outside. There’s probably enough change on the floor to pay for it.” 

“But where would we get our snack money from?” Claire flutters her eyes and exaggerates a pout. 

Cas sighs and pulls the day’s newspaper from under the counter along with the change in his pocket. “Go on and have fun. Please stay dry.” 

She cracks a wide, honest smile he hasn’t seen in two weeks.“Aw, you’re the best sugar daddy a girl could hope for.” 

Cas chokes. “Claire!” 

Claire laughs and pockets the change in her leather jacket. “You and Dean are too easy to rile up.” 

“You’re ungrateful.” Cas shakes his sweatshirt sleeves. He should be used to the jokes that come out of Claire’s mouth, but he thinks it’s worse since Dean decided he should be able to one up her. 

“Never.” Her eyes sparkle, but he knows she really is grateful for what he and Dean can do. 

Dean walks up behind Claire and throws her sweater in her hands. “Finished, kiddo. Make sure not to be too rough on your clothes in the future, ‘kay?” 

“Sure, Dad.”

“Hey, no ‘Dad.’ You’ll give me greys before I’m thirty.” Dean runs his hands through his hair. 

Cas snorts. “You’re twenty-nine. Not much longer you can milk that.” 

Claire laughs. She grabs her laundry basket and heads towards the door. As she hip checks the door she mouths “ask him out.” 

Cas resoundly ignores her in favor of watching Dean explain the movie he watched with Sam last weekend. 

Maybe Claire has a point, but Cas will never acknowledge it to her face. 

∴

“Fuck off man, he said no.” 

Cas twists towards the door. The Mating Washroom is in the back for a reason, so if he can hear a commotion from the front, it isn’t going to be pretty. 

He makes a half-hearted attempt to put the Scent-B-Gone bottle back on the shelf and bolts out of the door. 

Dean’s squared off in front of a tall alpha man, a high school-aged boy is off to the side holding a younger kid. The stench of alpha in near rut is putrid. “Get out of here, this is a place of goddamn business.” 

The alpha eyes the kid and steps forward. 

In a flash Dean’s got the alpha in a head-lock and tosses his ass out the door. He locks the door and watches the alpha stumble to stand up. “Go the fuck home, man, or I will call the cops on your ass.” 

Cas steps to the side next to the kids and looks them over. The older one smells sweet like late-bloomer omega. The younger one couldn’t be older than six. “Are you alright?” 

The omega presses his chest out, shoulders straight. “Yeah, not the first knot-head I’ve met.” He drops his laundry bag and his pockets jingle as he reaches for change. 

Cas puts his hand over the coin slot. “I’m not gonna make you pay after that. Would you be more comfortable in the back in case he returns?” 

The kid bites his lower lip and looks away. “Okay.” 

Cas guides the kids through the back where the industrial machines sit for dry-clean and drop-off service jobs. Once he’s satisfied they’ll be okay and know how to run the machine, he leaves them be. He wouldn’t want a stranger hovering over him after that. 

Dean stares eagle-eyed at the door, frown etched in his lips. 

“They’ll be okay.” Cas sits down next to him. 

Dean scoffs. “Yeah, but for how long? Kid’s omega.” 

“Hopefully there will always be people like you.” Cas can see Dean’s tense shoulders, guarded expression, and tight fists. He can make his own assumptions.

“Not for nothing Cas, but that’s wishful thinking. Too many alphas still think a pretty scent is enough of a ‘yes.’” Dean scratches at his wrist. “I keep thinking about those kids. That was me and Sam, you know? Dad’d have us go down to the laundromat while he was at work on the weekends. Just me and Sammy, couple of vending machine sandwiches and comics while the machines ran. It’s why I’m so comfy here. Places like these were my second home.” Dean drums his fingers on the counter. 

Cas knows better than to interrupt with platitudes. Dean’s always shied away from kind words and sympathy. 

“An alpha followed us back to the motel we were staying at one time. Called me an omega whore, told me I must be fertile since I already had a kid and he’d like to put another in me.” Dean snorts and looks down at his hands. “I heard that a lot ‘cause of the age gap between me and Sam. Fucking alphas.” 

“Indeed.” 

"Still—figuring out I was beta and not omega was the best thing that ever happened. All the discomfort from my presentation kind of melted the more comfortable I got declaring myself as beta." 

Cas watches Dean. "Can I hug you?" 

Dean blinks. "Yeah—sure buddy." 

Cas wraps his arms around Dean's shoulders and pulls him tight. No one should have to go through what Dean did. It's unjust and cruel. But Cas is in control of this moment. Dean’s fingers grip Cas’s shirt, face angled just so towards Cas’s neck. Cas sniffs ever so subtly to catch a whiff of Dean: basil and the barest hint of strawberry. 

Cas was smitten by Dean. And what a fool he is for it.

∴

Dean took two weeks off to drive up and down the coast with Sam before the semester started again. 

Cas stands next to Garth in the back while they process drop-off dry clean orders. Charlie is at the front counter today. Tomorrow, Dean and Sam return. 

Charlie squeals from the front and Cas glances over at Garth. He looks just as confused as Cas feels. 

They leave the back and there’s Dean twirling Charlie around behind the counter.

“Missed you too, kiddo.” Dean sets Charlie back on the ground and ruffles her hair. 

Charlie punches him playfully in the shoulder with a grin on her face. “It’s only been two weeks.” 

“Still—“ Dean turns and stares at Cas, “I missed you guys.” 

Garth crushes Dean in a hug. “We missed you too, pal.” 

Cas leans against the wall and watches Dean light up under the attention. The sun and surf have done him good: his skin golden, hair windswept and streaked with highlights, and, if possible, even more freckles trail his face and arms. 

Dean pats Garth on the back and turns towards Cas. “Um, is it alright if we talk? In the back?” 

“Sure.” Cas peels himself away from the wall and leads the way to the Mating Washroom. 

Dean paces as Cas settles himself atop a washer. “Are you okay, Dean?” 

Dean stops and makes a face. “Yeah, peachy.” He runs his hands through his hair. “Uh, I kind of had a revelation while I was away with Sam. Well, Sam helped. Actually, Sam just told me. But, um, I like you.” Dean ducks his head toward the floor. “Like, like like.” He cringes. “God, I’m acting like an unpresented thirteen year old with their first crush. I think you’re cool, Cas. And, ya know—“ he coughs, “um, I think I should stop there. Yeah.” 

Cas blinks. “You like me.” 

Dean fidgets. “Yeah.” 

Cas relaxes his shoulders. “Come on over here.” 

Dean shuffles across the floor and stops in the space between Cas’s legs. 

At this angle, Cas can see each individual eyelash framed around Dean’s eyes, the golden flecks by the iris. “Me too.” 

Dean lets out a puff of anxious breath. “Cool, cool, cool. Oh God, I was so nervous this would end bad.” 

Cas cups Dean’s face in his hands. “Never.” 

He leans forward and kisses Dean softly, gently, completely. Dean lifts his hands to cradle the back of Cas’s head. Cas can think of no sweeter reunion.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> 18+ and love Destiel? Come join us in the ProfoundBond discord server!
> 
> Or you can also find me on tumblr as hullosweetpea


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